Indie rockers The New Yorks have today announced their new single We Enjoy This Too Much, a seriously fun, guitar-driven bop reminiscent of The Wombats, out July 14. An endearing clip, featuring the charismatic half wolf/half human frontman Sir Wolf, accompanies We Enjoy This Too Much with a perfect nostalgic quality. This lively track is the second taste of their sophomore EP I Wish I Was You, But That’s Just Me, a collection of clever and irresistibly catchy songwriting, set for release on July 31. To celebrate the release, The New Yorks will be hitting the road, kicking off with a free show at Hotel Steyne in Sydney on August 18, then heading through their hometown of Adelaide on August 25 and wrapping up in Melbourne at the The Reverence on September 22.

We Enjoy This Too Much is so steeped in mid-2000s influences, yet somehow it exists as new today, and audiences will surely be grateful that it does. Evoking thoughts of The Strokes, Catfish And The Bottlemen and early offerings from The Jungle Giants, We Enjoy This Too Much goes hard and fast, guitars and riffs abound, and buoyed by clever lyrics and lead vocalist Vinnie Barbaro’s energetic performance. Of the inspiration behind the track, Vinnie says, “We Enjoy This Too Much is a rant about an irrational adoration for constant debate and agitation between a couple. It’s a bit of a complicated relationship… the idea of love-hate and what is actually healthy is one that is dwelled upon, with conversational lyrics intended to represent bickering about what to watch on Netflix. The temptation to push the quarrel in order to get one’s way is unanimously accepted to be a waste of time, instead they both take comfort in meaningless argument.”

The clip is a VHS-soaked alternate universe where it’s somehow completely normal for a wolf/human hybrid to start a band in their garage and ultimately suffer a meteoric fall from grace. Directed by Oliver Del Vecchio of EAT SLEEP EMPIRE (The Coconut Kids), the concept behind the clip sounds a bit off-kilter but somehow makes perfect sense when all is in motion. Vinnie explains, “The film clip is a prequel to the video of our previously released track, Sir Wolf. Sir Wolf was established as a dominant character, a gobbling narcissist of a business man that’s interested in the dollars generated behind the music. Sir Wolf is extravagant in order to out-shadow his dissatisfaction. We Enjoy This Too Much provides a backstory to how he became this figure. Set in 1985, the clip shows the failure of Sir Wolf’s band, ‘Steppe & The Hunting Men’ and his adoption in the music business. A love for being a musician results to be detrimental, with his failure turning him bitter.”

The EP encompasses this world, cleverly crafted by the band, and spins it into an indie pop/rock wonderland. Upon listening to I Wish I Was You, But That’s Just Me, you would be forgiven for thinking you had transported back to the time where Hot Fuss by The Killers was first doing the rounds. Recorded at Chapel Lane Studios in Adelaide by Michael Carver and Simon Kither and mastered by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound (Paolo Nutini, The National, Talking Heads), the songs fold into each other with ease, swelling and deflating most sweetly; crescendoing at Truman and taking a gentle breath in at Death In Modern Time. Speaking about the EP, Vinnie says, “The main themes of the EP are admiration and resentment; love/hate relationships and the irrelevance of questioning juvenile morality. The notion of love/hate relationships is not necessarily based on human interaction, but rather how a love for something and the search for admiration or approval can rob that process of the elements that made you love it in the first place.

Anyone who listens to these recordings will likely be hungry for the live show, and luckily The New Yorks are set to deliver. The group are thrilled to be stopping by Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne in August and September, and more than ready to hit the ground running with high-energy live shows. Vinnie enthuses, “The recently built set is an honest representation of the recordings. We have always been a traditional band with an organic set up, little time for smoke, mirrors and bullshit.”

The New Yorks are Vinnie Barbaro, Marcus Rosella, Carlos Carosi and Jared Grimm.

The single We Enjoy This Too Much will be released on July 14. The EP I Wish I Was You, But That’s Just Me is out July 31.

Sassy LA-based Australian force, Lili Kendall has today announced her sultry new single Lifetime, a cosmic love song to a young partner, set for a global release on December 1.

Lifetime is bound to catch listeners off-guard – it’s a surprisingly mature love song from this young artist, who has already reinvented herself several times throughout her short career. But Lili is fully formed on Lifetime; relaxed and in control, her unmistakable voice glides above world-class production from her collaborator Deaneaux. Lifetime is the most appropriate name for this slow-burning track – RnB and hiphop influences are sprinkled throughout, but there’s a cosmic force underlying that somehow places this song on the edge of this universe and the next.

Speaking about the track, Lili enthuses, “I wrote Lifetime when I first moved to LA in June. It’s about the chase that you and the other person are on at the start of a relationship. The back and forth, and lust, the want of each other. It’s also about being ride or die for that one person because you know that you have been lovers in previous lifetimes, and it is something worth fighting for.”

Lili has settled into the creative LA lifestyle without a hitch, and is currently putting the finishing touches on her new EP. “My EP is finished and we’re in the final stages of mixing and mastering, as well as making some amazing visuals for each song,” she says. “I am home in Australia for the holidays and will be heading to Sydney and Melbourne for work, I’m so excited to be back on home soil and get into the studio with some local creatives.”

Aussie rock royalty Sarah McLeod has today announced her new single Wild Hearts, a laid-back, content ode to finding fulfillment through creative endeavours. Lifted from her self-produced new album, Rocky’s Diner – her first solo album in 12 years – released on August 18, the talented vocalist, guitarist and songwriter, who first found fame in the late 1990s with 3X ARIA Award winning rock band The Superjesus, has also dropped a gorgeous video for Wild Hearts, encapsulating the simple beauty in what at first appears mundane. And due to high demand from fans wanting a piece of the action, Sarah has extended her national Rocky’s Diner tour into November and December, set to swing through Adelaide at Jive on November 5, then moving through Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Perth, Fremantle, Bunbury, Bulli, and finishing up in Sydney at The Lansdowne on December 16.

Wild Hearts is a fine example of Sarah’s storytelling abilities; those that hooked so many from the very beginning of her career. The simplicity of this track, and the narrative that drives it, is where the beauty lies here; a lone voice accompanied by understated guitar slowly swells into a full rock-band arrangement and just as quickly recedes again. Sarah paints a picture for the audience, and with just a few choice words she develops a character with a depth that demands multiple listens. She explains, “I wanted a lead who could show fulfilment within a scenario that to most would appear to be failure. I was going to start by describing what my character was, but I decided rather to describe what she wasn’t, and let the listener imagine the rest: ‘She’s not 18, living on guts and coca cola, she’s never been on train, or felt the ocean’s salty water.’ I was imagining a woman around my own age, not oblivious to the world around her but not an active participant either. She’s not flighty, she’s a thinker. She has a repetitive life and she enjoys the routine, and she would find fulfilment through creating stories about fictitious characters doing fictitious things. This writing was her release and it made her happy and noone in the world could touch that.”

The video documents seemingly routine moments in time, like passing buskers in the street – but rather than rush by them, like you might if you were on your way to work or similar responsibilities, the clip allows you to stay a while. With the help of Tribal Apes (Jessica Mauboy, Tina Arena, Havana Brown), Sarah has created a little time capsule of a creative moment in her life, alongside her canine companion Chachi, and invites the audience to share it with her, as Sarah says, “The clip is basically about depicting the beauty in what appears to be the mundane. Observing people in the street connecting with each other, finding joy in simplicity, all through the eyes of me and my best friend, my dog Chachi…and now I’ve got a little movie of me and Chach to watch when we’re older! That clip will make me smile forever.”

The recent South Australia Rock’N’Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Sarah McLeod has extended her already-massive national tour, adding nine extra shows in celebration of the new album Rocky’s Diner. Performing as a two-piece band alongside drummer Mick Skelton (Baby Animals), the powerhouse and self-confessed lover of touring has some seriously unique and impressive plans for the shows, explaining, “I have designed a guitar whereby I can play bass and regular guitar at the same time. It’s been a lot of trial and error because I didn’t really know what I was doing – but it seems to be working now! It’s a very ambitious live show, but super fun to perform. Chachi comes with us as well, she wears little headphones and sits on stage. I love touring so I don’t even care where I am or where I am going, as long as I am playing every night I am happy. I feel I am at my best when I’m touring.”

Colourful and unique, LA. Faithfull has today announced her new single Heart Back, a gut-wrenching pop smash with a clear, vulnerable message, available now. This exciting newcomer has also released a raw, expressive video that conveys the truth behind the song through dance and visuals, and this effective clip has already racked up over 50,000 plays since its release.

Heart Back is raw, in every sense of the word. Produced by the legends at M Squared Productions (NUSSY, Imogen Brough), and evocative of Amy Shark’s heavy, hip-hop inspired beats, Heart Back is some seriously fresh pop from LA. Faithfull, otherwise known as Lisa Anne Faithfull. The chorus soars, with sharp, synth-laden production that nods towards Lorde’s renowned debut LP Pure Heroine, and Faithfull’s voice is the soft, reassuring comfort throughout. The song was inspired by a difficult time in her life, as she reflects, “Heart Back is about the moment when you fall apart and realise that maybe no one will ever be able to put back together those tiny pieces of your heart that feel like they are lost when tragedy strikes. I actually wrote the lyrics the night I found out my dad had prostate cancer…I was going through the motions of looking at my dad’s face when he had to tell us, and watching my mum’s reaction of pure fear – and then feeling that it will never be the same again…even when you have good days, you’re always worried about the next bit of bad news.”

The clip for Heart Back is stark; set in a grey, industrial landscape, yet manages to show that beauty can exist and thrive in any dark situation. Faithfull stands alone, in this concrete space, surrounded by the lyrics of the song written in chalk across the walls. A skillful dancer expressively moves through the space, interpreting the music in a way that words could never. Speaking about the process of making the clip, Faithfull says, “The idea is that the white, concrete space represents the mind. We spent hours covering the walls, pillars and floor with the lyrics of the song, which represents the feeling of anxiety – where you’re trapped in your mind going over and over your thoughts. The dancing represents the pain, and sometimes the dance is beautiful but that’s because I feel that sometimes pain isn’t ugly. The camera angles and filming were the reason I asked the incredibly talented Connor Dalton (Slowly Slowly) to film it. He’s one of my best friends and has a incredible eye for angles, and while some people might have all set shots and steady shots, instead for us the camera is constantly moving like a whirlwind, which is how this song feels in my head.”

With a tour set to be announced shortly, this thrilling indie pop artist cannot wait to show the world what she was born to do, saying “As a kid growing up with anxiety I was awkward, had almost no social skills and my mind would run 24/7. But…put me onstage with a mic and it was like silence – no anxiety at all, and it just felt like home! The stage is one of the only places my mind is still, calm and silent, and maybe that’s why I’m so drawn to being onstage!”

Nostaligic indietronic duo Nakatomi have today announced their dark new single, Wooden Castle, set for release on October 11. The alluring futurepop track is accompanied by a Gondry-inspired clip, featuring the pair in a parable-like narrative complemented by the song. Wooden Castle lands ahead of the duo’s highly anticipated new EP set to drop in the new year. Nakatomi, who are Emily Smart and Hamish Cox, are hitting the road to celebrate the release, playing Hybrid World Adelaide at the Tonsley Innovation District on October 6 and jumping on as headliners for Sad Grrrls Fest which kicks off in Brisbane on November 4, then moves through Melbourne on November 11 and finishes up in Sydney on November 18.

Wooden Castle is a great example of Nakatomi’s ability to encapsulate retro pop vibes with impressively current production values. The track is driven by clear percussion, vocal samples and a huge, conquering chorus. Produced and mixed by JP Fung (Client Liaison, Phebe Starr, Silverchair), Wooden Castle demands to be heard and will refuse to leave your head. Describing the inspiration behind the track, Emily says, “Wooden Castle evolved, using a red woods forest as the inspiration, and explores themes of feeling stuck and stifled whilst striving towards goals that seem out of reach. It’s a balance of mounting pressure, contrasted by a strength in acceptance of who you are, and not giving up on yourself even when people try to cut you down.”

The clip for Wooden Castle is a bit of a surprise; with such an 80s vibe musically most would expect a similar video – but Nakatomi go for the unexpected. Taking inspiration from 1920’s cinema and directed by Tim Lucas, the clip incorporates projectors, puppets, and full-body costumes to tell the fanstastical story. Emily describes, “It’s kind of a humourous backwards fairytale. Hamish wanted to do a clip where he didn’t have to do anything so we went with this idea so he had to spend the entire day dressed as a tree as payback. Hopefully spite makes for an excellent clip. There’s three characters, a woodsman, a bear and a tree, and they find friendship, battle fear and find strength.”

And this all is just the first taste of the upcoming EP from Nakatomi, a collection of songs that are as yet shrouded in mystery – but one thing is for sure, it’s set for release in early 2018 and it is going to be massive. Working away for the last six months in both Australia and Los Angeles, the pair have collaborated with some huge names for this release, including JP Fung,Tony Buchen (Montaigne, ASTA, East) Mario Spate (Tkay Maidza) and Luke Godson (Luke Million).

Giving fans a taste of what to expect from the live show, Emily teases, “People can definitely expect to hear unreleased songs off the upcoming EP. We’ve also just redone our live show with a new drummer, so new set up and new tunes! Our shows have never been bigger and we’re looking forward to bringing out some epic energy reserves for the Sad Grrrls tour.”

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The "big" band in the first issue of Buzz Magazine was NOT The Big Pop Monsters (aka Superheist) but The Buzzards, a very popular surf grunge band on Melbourne's Mornington Peninsula. The Buzzards drew huge crowds in the pre-pokies pubs of the era.